eli5 How did Japan become a technology superpower after WW2?
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After WW2 Japan was under American occupation.
The US invested in Japan (and West Germany) and helped them rebuild their economy, including bringing in US and European experts to help get key industries going.
During this era the US was entering the Cold War and it was understood that having strong pro-democracy Capitalist allies was going to be key to slowing the spread of Communism. So rebuilding Japan and Germany into strong economic powers in their own image tied into that. If they had left Germany and Japan to rot after the war their would have been a reasonable chance that the Communists could have taken over.
The US transformed Japan from a Militaristic Imperialist nation into a mirror image of itself, Capitalist and Democratic.
Japan was then used as a major base of operations during the Korean War, so even more investment was made.
This is referred to today as the Japanese economic miracle. Japan went from a destroyed nation that lost a major war to a global economic super power in only a few decades.
Keep in mind though that Japan was hardly a back water nation before this. The Japanese had always been at the forefront of technology since the Meiji Restoration. Once Japan existed its feudal and isolationist state they quickly adopted modern technology and within decades had industrialized very rapidly. Post WW2 Japan saw that industries like cars and electronics were the future and heavily invested in RnD eventually overtaking the US in a number of areas.
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